McCracken was threatened over that?
I have to say that, like everyone, I’m thrilled that Harry McCracken is back at PC World, and that IDG has taken such a strong stand for editorial independence. It’s great news for writers, editors, readers, and, as McCracken points out in his blog, advertisers as well, since editorial independence is vital to retaining the readers advertisers so covet.
And now that he’s back, I’ve finally taken the time to read the article that led to the whole imbroglio, and I’m shocked. The “10 Things We Hate About Apple” piece is yet another of those lists I’m so fond of, and it’s completely innocuous. It takes gentle jabs at Apple over well-known issues from the company’s secrecy to the lack of any decent Mac games. McCracken was right to take a stand on this; if a CEO would threaten him over something like this, who knows how he’d respond to a serious investigative piece or overwhelmingly negative review of an advertiser. Bully for McCracken, and keep those lists coming!
Oh, and here are a couple of shameless plugs for somewhat similar lists I’ve been proud to work on: At Engadget, we did a list of Apple’s best and worst products to celebrate the company’s 30th anniversary. My contributions included making sure that two products I own made the list: The PowerBook 100 on the good side, and the Lisa on the bad, mainly due to its bungled marketing (I really do still love the Lisa). And at Download Squad, I had a ball with a piece on 10 Things We Love About Microsoft, which included our paean to Ballmer: “He’s nutty, oddly passionate, sweaty, and bald. That’s not the profile of your run-of-the-mill CEO, nor the type that Hollywood would cast. That’s why we love him. (That, and we love it when he goes ballistic.)”
